Hot Toys Captain America Civil War The Winter Soldier figure review

The Winter Soldier has been the most important supporting character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Captain America’s efforts to stop him led to the downfall of Shield and trying to protect him splintered the Avengers.

I’m pretty sure Hot Toys held off on a standard unmasked look with the Captain America: The Winter Soldier figure for the eventual double dip. So naturally I showed them by picking up the Civil War version as well. With Avengers: Infinity War upon us, I figured now was the perfect time to finally review Bucky’s new figure.

Packaging: I love the Civil War packaging. It’s such a clever combination of the movie and the comic book covers. There’s no confusion over which figure you’re getting thanks to the featured portrait on the front. Fittingly, he’s back to back with Captain America and bracing for the charging Black Panther.

As a core member of Team Cap, Bucky has the blue inner package. Lift the inner flap and free him from the black plastic prison.

Likeness: The head sculpt looks like a dead ringer for Sebastian Stan right down to the intense, focused eyes. The hair falls naturally and is sculpted with good detail so it doesn’t just look like it was an afterthought. Bucky’s metal arm looks great. I don’t see any indications to suggest this is a different one from the previous Winter Soldier figure.

Scale: The Winter Soldier should be at a standard height. Same height as Cap BFF rival Falcon, but shorter than say Cap and Thor. Hot Toys tries to pay attention to this and Bucky is a tad shorter than Captain America.

Paint: As usual, the paintjob on the head is amazing. I always love the Hot Toys paint work on the eyes. It really creates that lifelike portrait that gives the figures that makes Hot Toys figures stand out.

The chrome like finish on the metal arm is nice and shiny. Spider-Man will think it’s so cool.

Uniform: The big change outfit wise from The Winter Soldier costume is the dark blue jacket as opposed to the brown utility vest. This gives Bucky a little more style and fits more in line with the look of a guy who hasn’t spent a lot of time on his attire.

Give the zipper a gentle try as it actually works. The cool aspect of this is the left arm sleeve is removed so Bucky can show off his metal arm. It’s hard to get too excited about a jacket, but it does look good with various layers and scale accurate stitching.

Bucky also swapped out the cargo pants for more of a regular jeans look. The excellent stitching carries over and the jeans are neither too snug or baggy. I had a slight problem keeping the pants leg tucked into the boots to make it look exactly like how Bucky wore it in the film.

Articulation: Bucky isn’t a Captain America level athlete and is more of a plodding brawler even without the Hydra brainwashing. That said there wasn’t a lot I couldn’t accomplish that I wanted. I always get a little worried with Hot Toys figures in terms of pushing the poses. I buy Marvel Legends figures for the super articulation.

The Winter Soldier has:

neck

ball-jointed shoulders

elbow

wrist

wrist hinge

torso

waist

hip

knee

ankle

Accessories: Unlike the first release, Bucky gets shortchanged on the accessories front. While he had a mini arsenal last time, Winter Soldier just gets one heavily detailed machine gun. It looks great, but with Hot Toys, you come to expect a lot more for the premium price.

The only other piece is the ammo clip for the gun. I know this is in line with Bucky’s actual weapons in the movie, but it really comes up short compared to a Hawkeye.

Bucky does get the obligatory swappable hands. There’s a relaxed, fist, grasping and weapon clutching sets. He also has the blue Captain America stand. It’s nice, but like most Hot Toys figures, largely unnecessary as he stands fine on his own.

Worth it? At $219, Winter Soldier was more than he should have been. He’s more intricate than the just over $200 Quicksilver, but not on a Thor or Batman level either. Especially consider the sparse accessories. Looking at the secondary market prices now, $220 is a steal.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Given his prominent role in both Civil War and presumably Avengers: Infinity War, this is an essential figure.

Where to get it? Sideshow Collectibles is long sold out so you’re going to have to try the secondary market via re-sellers on Amazon.com or eBay. The good news is his Avengers: Infinity War role might provide an outlet for another figure in 2019.